Celebrations transform the Castle
AN ESTIMATED 4 000 festival goers and tourists took advantage of yesterday’s sunny weather and public holiday to flock to the Castle of Good Hope to enjoy the Cape Town Festival’s celebrations of Human Rights Day.
The celebrations transformed the Castle into an educational and entertainment hub that had children frolicking on jumping castles and lush lawns, stall holders selling refreshments and adults lazing under gazebos listening to DJs and live performers.
Other options were to visit one of three museums, or to watch a movie on the life and tragic murder of Struggle hero Ashley Kriel.
“This is our nineteenth festival and it aims to create a more tolerant and inclusive city of Cape Town. I’m so impressed with the turnout from all over and all walks of life,” said festival chairperson Ryland Fisher.
Having initiated the festival as the One City Many Cultures project in 1999, when he was Cape Times editor, Fisher said the festival had been hosted in the city’s Gardens for many years, but because residents objected to its noise, it was moved to the Castle.
“This is probably a better venue for our festival because the Castle was a place where human rights were denied (by apartheid and colonialists) and where slaves and even soldiers were held in dungeons.
“It’s important for us to celebrate human rights in a place where human rights were denied, so that we can remember where we come from and how far we have come as a country.”
The Castle’s chief executive officer Calvin Gilfillan said he and Fisher decided three years ago to host the festival in the Castle because of the Castle’s new philosophy of inclusivity, healing and nation building.
“The idea was to get people, who normally don’t come to the Castle, to let them come here and enjoy themselves, and enjoy being taught about human rights and what it is to be South African in the new South Africa.”
Bonteheuwel activist Zelda Holtzman supported the festival, but cautioned against whitewashing the past or distorting historical facts.
“In occupying this space we must remember the suffering caused by colonialism,” she said.
Alistair February, from Bonteheuwel, visited the celebrations with his family and said: “I think it’s sad that the current political climate throw such a dark cloud over all the dreams and aspirations and kind of democracy we envisioned at that time (of Ashley Kriel’s activism).”